Castleheath holds off Reign to shed maiden tag under Coen

The Ciaran Murphy trained Castleheath took a significant step forward from his recent debut when staying on strongly to win the Rosses Point Caravan Park Maiden at Sligo.

Only sixth on his introduction at Navan last month, the three-year-old showed the benefit of that experience in what turned out to be an eventful contest.

With Las Vegas Nevada proving totally uncooperative from stalls, the race was soon to involve just the sextet of runners.

Race leader Brosna Town then ran wide off the bottom bend, with Coen finding himself in front on Castleheath earlier than expected.

Market leader Celestial Reign moved up to throw down a strong challenge at the two furlong marker, with Coen and Dylan Browne McMonagle on the latter, battling it out all the way up the straight. At the finish, only a nose separated the pair with Castleheath just shading the verdict.

Ciaran Murphy said: "He's a lovely, tough, honest horse and I'm very happy with that. He came forward for his first run. Obviously it's a hard track when you've little experience but he handled it well and got the job done. Ben was very good on him.

"I'd a horse like him last year, Bottler'secret, and he's very much in the same mould. We left him on the side as a two-year-old for this job and he's a nice horse going forward.

"The Slevins are local to me and this is the first horse they've had with me, so I'm delighted for them."

Additional reporting by Mark Nunan.